Larry Neilson Blog

SEO and Social Media…Where do you start?

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:37:56 +0100

There is a lot of activity around Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing, and I know how frustrating it is to drop everything you’re doing to learn about a marketing modality that barely existed ten years ago. Sometimes it feels as if the whole world is shouting YOU MUST BLOG AND POST TO TWITTER AND BUILD A NEW WEB SITE…OR ELSE!

Taking the plunge was very meaningful for me. We went from 0 leads per day to 7-8 leads per day. It’s meant a world of difference to our business.

I saw a recent video that stated the ROI on social media is you will be in business in 5 years. Will you go out of business if you do nothing? I don’t know, maybe. Did anyone go out of business as a result of not buying a Yellow Page ad? Probably not? The point is that there is some urgency here. From a standpoint of keyword competitiveness, it is less expensive to start your online marketing program today than it will be 6 month to a year from now. The biggest lesson for me in developing my own Internet Marketing strategy was ignoring my preconceived notions about how and why the Internet does or doesn’t work. Trying to apply that which I already know about marketing to this new medium was a big help in understanding how to apply this technology to my marketing efforts.

So, the real question is, can people (your customers and prospects) find you?

At this point, it is irrefutable that the majority of people start their search using a search engine. The number that is frequently bantered about is 85%. That’s a pretty close estimate when you stop and consider the search habits of just your immediate family. As a matter of fact, the actual number is probably everyone minus those who don’t have any Internet access. Whatever the exact percentage is it’s everyone including business owners, CEOs, politicians, and regular working folks. All of these people start out with a question, think about what 2-4 word phrase they can use to find a solution and then type it into a search bar on Google or Bing. The challenge is matching your solution to the relevant questions and having the authority, rank, and reputation so that your solution appears on the top half of the first page of the search engine results.

Internet marketing applies to both business-to-consumer, business-to-business, it applies to large businesses, small businesses, rural communities and to larger urban communities, and just like traditional forms of marketing the results are relative to the targeted demographics.

So, where do you start? Start by setting goals and objectives. Determine where you want to see the majority of your growth come from. Evaluate your website. Is it functioning properly? Are you generating any business from your website? Is there an efficient way to track leads that are coming from your website? If your website is generating leads, are they qualified leads?

Once you understand what you want to accomplish with your Internet marketing strategy, educate yourself. Try to understand the relationship between your website and your social media presence. For example, your website should be the nucleus of your Internet marketing strategy supported by your blog, link building, keyword marketing, and social media.

By carefully selecting the key search terms for which you optimize your website you can control the quality of the leads generated by your website. Keywords are important to Internet marketing much as a list is to direct mail. They are extremely important, and you have to view them from the client’s perspective. For example, most people don’t search for “commercial lines”, or “personal lines”. In my next blog, I am going to talk about selecting keywords.

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Afraid to Change; Why Brands Disappear

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:33:13 +0100

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely”. William Somerset Maugham

One of this month’s big news stories was about Kodak seeking Chapter 11 protection. I read the headline and thought “just another company that failed to adjust to the Internet”. Then as I read the article I learned that Steve Sasson of Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 and sat on the technology fearful that it would damage it’s film business. Ironically, Kodak is in trouble today because by sitting on the technology, it effectively ceded the opportunity to competitors. Kodak has other problems including their pension program but their pension problems pale in comparison to the losses created by failing to capitalize on their discovery.

The last movie I saw was Hugo, a true story about George Melies the guy who is known as the inventor of the modern cinema. The funny thing is the Lumiere brothers are the actual inventors of the moving picture. They just didn’t know what to do with the technology.

they would set up their short films and show them at carnivals and street fairs but they didn’t see the future of film as a story telling medium. George Melies saw one of their films and was amazed by the technology of their camera. He asked them if he could buy one and they told him not to bother because it was just a fad that had no future. George Melies was a magician by trade and saw big future. George reverse engineered the camera and started to make films that actually told a story. He used is talent as a magician to create the first special effects.

I read an article earlier this month called “3 Ways to Go Cable-Free” . Interesting article that made me think of Kodak and the Lumiere brothers. Is cable the next victim of Internet technology? So what’s any of this got to do with insurance marketing? Think about the industries you target. Think about how you are marketing to all of your prospects. What’s working? How are you utilizing Internet marketing? Are you make use of new technology? Are you trying to formulate a social media strategy, or are you using a college kid to handle your Facebook posts just so you can say you are utilizing social media? Have you reviewed your website? Do you know your Paige Rank, how your keywords rank, your indexed number of pages, number of back links, and how you compare to your top ten competitors? Don’t let this slip by. Status quo is never the answer.

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Nexsure Users Group

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:44:30 +0100

I am looking forward to speaking to the Nexsure Users Group in Anaheim CA in March.

Neilson Marketing Services’ CEO to Speak at XDimensional User Group

CEO Larry Neilson is speaking at the Nexsure User Group on how insurance agents can capitalize on the paradigm shift taking place in insurance marketing, including using SEO, Internet Marketing, and Social Media Marketing, to capture leads and close sales.

Laguna Hills, CA, January 9, 2012 – Larry Neilson, CEO of insurance marketing firm Neilson Marketing Services, will be speaking at the upcoming Nexsure User Group at the Doubletree by Hilton on March 7-9, 2012 in Anaheim, California. Mr. Neilson will be speaking Wednesday, March 7th, on how technology is shifting the way insurance is being marketed and purchased, enabling consumers – both personal lines and business – to search for and select insurance agencies and coverage solutions on-line.

“We’ve seen in the last few years a paradigm shift in the way personal lines insurance is marketed and sold,” said Mr. Neilson. “Eighty-five percent of consumers search on-line before making a decision as to which agent or direct writer to go with. It’s critical that independent insurance agencies capitalize on what’s taking place so that they don’t lose additional market share to folks like GEICO and Allstate (E-surance). What’s more, there are companies employing Internet marketing strategies for commercial lines, particularly for smaller accounts – using search engine optimization and social media to capture leads and provide preliminary quotes. Even larger commercial prospects are finding their way to progressive agencies using SEO, social media marketing, and other technology.

Mr. Neilson and his company, Neilson Marketing Services, have been at the forefront of insurance marketing for 24 years. They set the gold standard and Best Practices in insurance telemarketing and database marketing, delivering growth-building and profit-making results to many of the industry’s top independent agencies, brokerages, and carriers in the country. In 2010,

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Email Subject Lines Common Mistakes

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:07:00 +0100

Are you aware that you have the ability to enter approximately 255 characters in the subject line with no spaces for outlook. For Google's Gmail you can enter 220 characters with no spaces. Now I don't think any good marketing person in today's right mind would ever do this, but hey ya never know. I recently had an email conversation with a very good client. He emailed over four subject line choices to our service department for upcoming email broadcasts. This conversation prompted me to share our experiences and a few common mistakes when writing content for a good subject line. I would think maybe fifty characters total would be used.

Here are the four most common subject line mistakes that can trigger a spam filter to block your email:

1. Punctuation or symbols. Content filters count any punctuation, particularly $, #, ! and ?, as spam indicators. Also, don't use punctuation marks to disguise sensitive or trigger words in subject lines and body copy. That's a certain spam giveaway.
2. Calls to action. Content filters that assign points for various infractions or questionable phrasings consider any action verb to be "aggressive" language. The most common verbs in spam subject lines are get, open, download, buy, save, take, win, make, and respond.
3. Pronouns. Words like you, your, I, my, our, and we seem relatively benign and friendly - but they will trigger most spam filters, especially if used as the first word in a subject line.
4. The "F" words. "F" as in free, that is. Business-class anti-spam appliances often filter out any message with this word - while consumer-grade filters may let it through. There are other "F" words that can trigger spam filters, including financial, freedom, for and friend.

Fifty characters could be all that stands between you and success in your next email campaign. Fifty characters is all the space you have in a typical email subject line to catch a reader's eye and entice them to open your email to take the action you want. How could something so small make or break an email marketing campaign's success? Because many recipients use the email subject line as a filter to decide whether to open or delete an email. Email subject lines are tough to create, but very important. A good one can get your email opened in a second, while a poor one could spell disaster in the trash or junk folder in a half a second.

If you want to write the best email subject line, pick up any newspaper or magazine. When watching the news tonight pay attention to the scrolling news at the footer of the TV screen and you'll see nothing, but great subject lines. The headline usually highlights a story's most important fact in a limited space. A subject line, in turn, should clearly state what your reader can expect from your email message, what's in it for them or what action step you want them to take as a result of the email. However, there isn't enough space to do all of them all the time. Again look at the newspaper, magazine and TV news headlines to see how it interplays with the story.

Measuring Success

Look at the subjects associated with the highest number of conversions, such as registrations, submissions, phone calls, clicks to view newsletter articles, sales or downloads. If you drill down into your web analytics, you might find some anomalies, such as an email with a relatively low open rate, but a high sales-per-order rate or submissions. That could mean something in the subject line strongly appealed to a narrow segment of your email list and could point the way to a more lucrative segmentation. Remember, your end goal is not necessarily high open rates, but to have email subscribers take a specific action. Focus on your end goal.

Do you have a Deadline the Tax man does

Set a deadline: "Order by midnight tonight;" may not work for a insurance professional, but you get the idea here. Use urgency and deadlines as part of a planned series of emails as well. For example on Monday incorporate "5 Days Left." and then on Thursday follow it with "Only 24 Hours. I constantly receive emails from Carriers, MGAs and wholesalers who are offering prizes and trips for the a certain number of bound accounts or submissions. A retail agency can incorporate a number of different contests from referrals; gift cards and vacation give always.

Subject lines need to pass Must-Open & Must-Read test?

The days when people opened everything that landed in their inboxes are gone. Now, you have to intrigue them. Appeal to their need for information, to be an insider "in the know." If you have created a conversation with your readers, a reference to it in your subject will intrigue them into opening your email to see the next installment. Run a simple test on yourself and others on your team - does the email subject line pass these two tests? The must-read test. If a subscriber doesn't open the email they will feel like they are out of the loop and may have missed an offer that they will regret not taking advantage of. The unbulk bulk-folder test. Simply, if for some reason your email goes into the bulk folder, does the combination of from and subject line wording inspire trust and intrigue to get the recipient to move it into their inboxes? Conclusion: Lots to Learn, Lots at Stake Right? This seems like a lot of fuss over 50 small characters. But those 50 characters may have the greatest impact on your email marketing campaigns' success. It pays to get them right.

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Cash Mobs

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:06:19 +0100

You’ve heard of Flash Mobs if not click on the anchor text to see AT&T commercial in order to jog your memory. Well Cash Mobs are similar but they have a specific purpose….to improve cash flow at specific small businesses.

The trend apparently started in Buffalo NY when a blogger, Christopher Smith, wanted to use his blog to promote small businesses. His objective was to gather 100 people to spend a nominal amount of money at a particular local business. The idea is to support local businesses that employ people and help build local wealth.

Cash Mobs have spread quickly with stories in Oakland Ca and Cleveland Oh, Anyone can start a Cash Mob according to blogger Andrew Santoy

This application of technology proves that supporting business and helping the community are not mutually exclusive events. I’ll bet there are many local independent agencies that support their respective communities who could benefit from a Cash Mob. The question is; Would 100 people gather in “Anywhere USA” to buy auto or home insurance? I’m not sure, but it certainly would raise some eyebrows in the community. Better yet, what if you promoted a Cash Mob on behalf of one of your small business clients? What a creative us of Technology for Internet marketing What are your thoughts?

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Don’t Skimp on Content

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:48:53 +0100

There is on-page content, the content that fills the pages of your website and there is off-page content, the content that fills your blog, press releases and articles that are submitted to other websites and blogs.

First let’s talk about on-page content.

Just a few years ago, search engines could be fooled into believing your site was useful as long as you regularly published keyword-rich content. Now, more sophisticated algorithms and the rise of social media mean the web is a far more demanding place.Original content is one of the keys to good search engine results and skimping on the quality can cause a number of issues that can have negative affects on your entire internet marketing strategy.

Make sure the copy for your web pages are professionally written by someone who understands your business, your keyword strategy, and SEO. Strategic placement of keywords on page copy is critical. Sacrificing grammar for keyword placement is a bad idea. Remember, your copy has to convince the reader to take the next indicated action. Google likes original content and they could very well penalize you for scraped, auto-generated, or thin content. Making the investment in marketing oriented, high quality, original content will pay dividends in increased reputation and ranking of your website.

Off-page or external content.

Write articles about the keywords for which you are trying to optimize your site. Provide relevant, interesting and informative content and people will be more likely to read and share it which will increase your reputation as an expert in your field. Make sure to create anchor text (anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink) for the keywords strategically placed in your press releases and articles and then submit them to article sites and public relations sites.

Write a blog. You are an expert in your field so share your expertise. It’s taken me 30 minutes to write this blog and as you can tell by looking at the frequency of my posts I fall well short of the once a week recommendation I am making to you. But, hey you have to keep trying. Blogs provide a plethora of positives for your site. They build your reputation as an expert in your field, provide fresh content for your site (Google indexes your site more frequently if there are constant content updates) and they create more links via the anchor text you place in the blog articles. Keep your articles and your blogs at around 300-500 words. I’m at around 422 words now so I can quit.

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Drip Marketing

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:02:20 +0100

Driving traffic to your website is the first step in a multi-step process. Once you drive the traffic and capture a lead, nurturing leads from inquiry to client is the key to ROI. Leads cost money and picking the low hanging fruit is simply not a good long term strategy. It happens to all of us. We buy leads, work the hot hot ones to a quick close and leave the rest to rot like old fruit. The irony is we go back and buy the same leads again at a later date and repeat the same process.

It can require as many as 10-12 contacts before someone associates your name with what you do, yet very few salespeople make more than three calls to follow up.

Whether you hired an insurance telemarketing firm, or you generated the lead by optimizing your site for a particular keyword, a good drip marketing system will provide the means to maximize the ROI on your lead investment.

Once a lead has been generated a quick response is paramount to a high close rate. Studies show that quick response equals higher closing ratios. Technology provides a cost effective means to add drip marketing to any campaign. We offer it as an add on to all of our services because it’s so effective.

The process should include;

Education; Think news articles and white papers. Start to establish yourself as the expert.
Solution; Think problem solving statistics. Confirm that you are truly and expert.
Choice; Think unique value proposition. What separates you from the competition? Testimonials.

Email drip is a good way to implement the “know, like, trust strategy, but personal contact is a must in order to close a sale. Many agencies try to accomplish the complete drip marketing process by relying on automation alone. Using telephone follow up to qualify leads, once they have received a series of drip emails, will increase connect and conversion rates five times better than what you experience with cold calls alone.

Setting up a good drip system is the most cost effective way to maximize your lead investment. There are a finite number of viable prospects in your marketing area. Market to them carefully and try not to pay for the same lead twice. We provide a turn-key insurance internet marketing program that includes drip marketing.

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When is the worst month for insurance marketing?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:24:00 +0100

I'll give you a hint: It's the month when most of us are searching the most! Perhaps you've heard it's "coming", and maybe you've already heard songs for the holiday that lands during this non-insurance-marketing month. Well, if you haven't guessed already, it's December! Yes, December is the worst month to market your insurance agency through PPC (Pay-Per-Click campaigns, like Google Adwords) as we see searches for all things insurance related drop as low as 30% from it's current search interest. I bet you can guess why, too! We're all too busy buying gifts, looking for activities and finding recipies that we don't have time to look at our insurance.

A better time to ramp up those ads and marketing emails is January, when we see interest in insurance jump back up to September levels. See below for an interactive graph from Google Insights on the interest over time for the term 'Insurance' in Google.

However, December is a great time to ramp-up your organic search marketing. With organic search marketing, you work on being high in the search engines, such as Google, for search terms your prospects use to find your services and poducts. You can do this through article marketing, link building, and local search marketing, which we've talked about in earlier posts on this blog. If you questions about how to get your website on page one in Google, contact us - we'd be happy to help.

Enjoy the Holiday season!

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Email and Social Media Traffic = Leads

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:58:13 +0100

The big search engines continue to change their algorithms to include more social media indicators like reviews and comments. Increasingly businesses are becoming more sophisticated in their on-line marketing approach. The big question remains, how to integrate the various on-line modalities. How do you develop a strategy to deliver a cogent and consistent marketing message using email, social media and SEO?

It’s obvious that these channels are converging rapidly. Just look at emails that now have social media buttons and calls to action and a fundamental goal of delivering higher traffic to your website. We already know, based on the know-like-trust concept, that visitors who click on a link in an email and end up on your site through a social media channel will visit more pages and spend more time on your site with a lower bounce rate. By asking these same email visitors to refer friends you can increase website traffic exponentially. Referrals like this will have a much higher conversion rate than traditional references.

So, email your customers, invite them to your social media channels, ask them to refer friends through social media posts. Remember to ask email recipients to follow, like or +1 your company. This is becoming critical to your SEO efforts. It’s one more thing the search engines are watching. Try rewarding your customers for referring friends. We had to change our thinking and start looking at our marketing plan as one fluid process that involves email, social media and our website. At the end of the day, we are trying to drive leads so the call-to-action at all levels of the process is critical. It doesn’t matter if it’s on FaceBook or our website as long as we get the information. If you have some additional ideas, or if something is working, we would love to hear from you.

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Correcting Complacency

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:55:01 +0100

When the economy is good, we all tend to be great sales people. Sales come pretty easy, at least relative to the way the come now. Between the soft market and the economic crisis of 2008 we have all been challenged a bit at maintaining revenue and if we have been able to maintain revenue, it’s been difficult to do so while preserving margins. It just stands to reason that when times are good it’s easy to complacent in terms of sales process and execution and conversely, when times are tough we look closely at how to cut expenses and efficiently add sales. Whenever a sports team gets complacent and their winning percentage drops. the solution is always the same. Let’s work on fundamentals. It doesn’t matter how much money you make or how much experience you have. Everyone needs a coach and everyone needs to review the fundamentals.

We recently recommitted to vigorous sales training in our firm as part of a back-to-the basics, lets-work-on the fundamentals, strategy to improve sales. The results have been great. Seasoned sales professionals respond to sales training and are extremely helpful to newer producers in this forum. Most seasoned producers don’t realize how much they know and with the right coaching and stimulation they can be a wealth of knowledge to younger, less experienced producers. By sharing their own experience, they are revisiting the fundamentals that made them successful in the first place. Insurance leads are expensive and sales training helps to assure you are getting your money's worth.

Start out by identifying your sales process. What are the five parts? For example here are the five parts we use…

1. Discovery Phase I
2. Needs analysis Phase II
3. Presentation Phase III
4.Cost justification Phase IV
5. Close Phase V

What are the producers doing during discovery? Are they all asking the same questions? Are they asking any questions? You’ll be surprised. What collateral material are they providing to prospects? Is it current? Are they using the brochures with the new logo? Are they selling based on price?
With a simple one-hour, weekly meeting, dedicated to improving the sales process you will be amazed at the results. We spend an hour and half reviewing the process discussing what works and what doesn’t. Making sure we are all on the same page, delivering the same message and sticking to the sales process. As part of the long-term effort,we have committed to purchasing four sales books per year for each of our producers. These books are required reading and are the basis of discussion at some of the training meetings. This way there is NEVER a lack of material for training. The first book we ordered was 10 copies of How To Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins. It doesn’t matter if you read this 10 years ago. It’s not a novel…it’s a text book. Read it again. I did and it’s really reinvigorated my personal sales efforts. What are you doing to combat complacency in your agency?

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